MISENHEIMER, N.C. – Scoring 60 second-half points, twice as many as in the first half, Pfeiffer University rebounded nicely for a 90-82 victory over Queens University in Conference Carolinas men’s basketball action on Monday night. The Falcons came back in the second 20 minutes shooting 68% from the floor moving to 12-6 on the season, 8-4 inside league play. The Royals suffer the loss dropping them to 8-11, 5-7.

In a sloppy first period, Queens held the advantage at the break, 33-30, knocking down 38% of their shots while the Falcons went cold shooting just 27%. Queens jumped out to an 11-3 start after a Charles Burgess (Chesnee, SC) jumper at the 14:14 mark of the first period.

The Falcons took their first lead of the night on a lay in by Chris Woods (Thomasville, NC), swinging the margin to +7 in their favor with a free throw by Yuki Yamaguchi (Tokyo, JAPAN) with 8:52 to go in the half. An 8-0 run by the Royals and three lead changes over the next two and a half minutes, Queens would regain the lead by one on a Brandon Nichols (Fayetteville, NC) basket in front of D.J. Cheek (Graham, NC) closing out the half with a layup at the buzzer for a 33-30 visitors lead at the break.

A minute forty into the second, the Falcons had come back to square the contest at 37 with another basket by Woods which was preceded by a James Crowder (High Point, NC) three. An emphatic dunk by Woods 90 seconds later gave the hosts a lead for good quickly racing out to a double-digit lead on another Crowder triple with just over a dozen minutes to play.

Up by as many as 19 inside the final five minutes, the Falcons had to fight off a late rally by Queens to secure the victory. A three ball by Reggie Hopkins (Gastonia, NC) capped off a 12-0 run that saw the Royals pull to within a manageable seven with just under two minutes to play. Five different Falcons connected on 8-of-10 free throws in the final 1:26 to hold on for the eight-point win.

For the Royals, Hopkins led all scorers with 27 points. Andre Lockhart (St. James, BARBADOS) finished with 13, Nate Blackburn (Burlington, NC) finished with 11 while Daniel Bailey (Irmo, SC) was held to 10. Bailey did finish just one rebound shy of a double-double. Pfeiffer was led by Woods’ 26 point effort on 9-of-12 shooting and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Jeff Pettiway (Edgewood, MD) was the only other Falcon in double-figures contributing with 18.

In the midst of a heated conference playoff race, Pfeiffer will face four big games over the next week that includes a trip to Limestone on Saturday, home next Monday to Barton and on the road to Erskine and Belmont Abbey back-to-back.